Turn customer pain points into social media content

Key takeaways

Customer pain points make the strongest social media content because a buyer notices their own problem faster than your offer. Collect the problems customers describe before they buy, word them as the customer does, and build each post as problem, cause, fix and next step.

• 4 lines make a pain point post: problem, cause, fix, next step.
• Enquiry emails, calls and reviews are the best sources.
• Use the customer's wording, not your trade's.
• 1 problem per post. Lists of five dilute all of them.

What is a customer pain point?

A customer pain point is a specific problem, cost or frustration that makes someone look for a supplier. It is narrower than a need. 'We need accounting' is a need. 'Our VAT return is due in nine days and the bookkeeper has left' is a pain point, and it is the one a reader will stop for.

• How to create social media content that attracts the right customers

Where do you find real pain points?

Find them in what customers have already told you. Read the last 30 enquiry emails and messages, ask whoever answers the phone what people say first, and read your reviews and your competitors' reviews. Write the phrases down exactly. Ten to fifteen recurring problems is typical for a small business.

• Enquiry emails, forms and direct messages.
• The first sentence of phone calls.
• Your reviews, and competitors' poor reviews.
• Questions asked during quotes and site visits.
• Search phrases in Google Search Console.

• Use your customers' own words in social media content
• Google Search Console for small businesses

How do you turn a pain point into a post?

Use four lines. State the problem as the customer would. Explain why it happens in one sentence. Show how it is fixed, ideally with a real example. Then give one next step. This format works as a caption, a carousel or a 30-second video without changing the structure.

• Problem: 'Damp patch back again after repainting?'
• Cause: 'Paint hides damp. It does not stop it.'
• Fix: 'We trace the source first. Here is one from last week.'
• Next step: 'Send a photo for a first opinion.'

• Social media hooks that stop the right people scrolling

Which pain points attract the best customers?

The pain points that attract the best customers are the ones your best customers had. Problems about risk, time and getting it right first time tend to draw buyers who value quality. Problems framed only around saving money draw buyers who will choose on price. Pick deliberately.

• Ideal customer profile for social media: define yours
• How to stop attracting price shoppers on social media

How do you avoid sounding negative or alarmist?

Describe the problem accurately, then move to the fix within two sentences. Do not exaggerate consequences or invent urgency. UK advertising rules require marketing claims to be truthful and not to mislead, and readers can tell when a post is trying to frighten them. Calm and specific is more convincing.

• ASA rules for social media advertising in the UK

When do pain point posts not work?

They work less well for purchases driven by desire instead of a problem, such as a celebration meal or a new kitchen someone has wanted for years. There, show the outcome. They also fail when the problem is one you cannot actually solve, because the enquiries they bring will be poor fits.

• Before and after posts: proof that attracts buyers

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see with UK firms that start logging enquiry wording: within a month they have a list of a dozen problems, and three of them account for most of the enquiries they want. Those three become recurring posts. The rest are answered once and reused when the question returns.

• See client work
• Social Media Marketing for UK businesses

Pain point content checklist

Before publishing a pain point post, check these.

• The problem came from a real customer.
• It is worded as the customer said it.
• There is one problem, not several.
• The fix is shown, not only claimed.
• Nothing is exaggerated.
• There is one next step.

Next step

Read your last 30 enquiries and copy out the first sentence of each. You will have next month's content topics in under an hour.